"This was an assignment for the German art magazine, Wolkenkratzer. The interviewer, Sarah Fatima Parsons, hired a model for the shoot, Desmond Cadogan. Rainer and Desmond fell in love that day, and were together for many years after. He appeared in a number of Rainer’s paintings. That’s Rainer’s assistant, Klaus, on the right." (bron: powerhouse books, foto: Jeannette Montgomery Barron)

woensdag, mei 25, 2016

"Antivilla, the refurbished former German Democratic Republic lingerie factory „Ernst Lück“ at the Krampnitzsee, southwest of Berlin, questions the relationship between building regulations and standards, energy efficiency together with the idea re-use and adaptive living.

Built between 2010 and 2014 Brandlhuber+ together with Pichler engineers developed a combined living and studio building with a new approach.

Instead of insulating the existing structure and to save costs, the façade was covered with shortcrete. To generate an open space all non-bearing walls were removed and a functional 20 square meter core with the staircase, bathroom, kitchenette, fireplace as well a sauna were installed in the center of both floors. The space can be zoned by simple transparent PVC curtains according to the actual climate needs. In the summer time the curtains are retreated only to a 10 square meter bedroom in the 230 square meter open loft space, while in winter the heated area makes only 60 square meters of the whole floor area which includes moving the bed closer to the open fire.

The gable roof, made of corrugated asbestos plates, was removed and replaced by a flat concrete slab that structurally allowed big openings in the walls. These, up to five meter, large windows on the north and south facade, are the result of the collective work by friends hammering away the wall to create big openings which provide a scenic view over the nearby lake." (bron: archdaily)

"....
The Antivilla is not alone by the way; it was predated by a little sister in the garden, called “Rachel” – named after the artist Rachel Whiteread. Here, architecture students poured an extraordinary concrete summer refuge using a ruined shed in the garden as formwork, before removing the original structure. This building gets away without the under-floor heating, but contains a cast iron stove as well as a diagonally mirrored corner concealing the toilet and a storage closet. It is a single raw concrete room with just as broad an outlook as its big brother." (bron: uncube)

"In an unexpected turn of events, two days after our studio visit with architect Arno Brandlhuber, we had the occasion to visit one of his much lauded built projects: the so-called ‘Anti-Villa’ on the shores of Krampnitzsee in Potsdam. The multi-purpose concrete complex fittingly houses the studio of artist and sculptor Björn Dahlem.

This was not the only overlap between Dahlem and Brandlhuber, who have back-to-back shows in the main exhibition hall at the Berlinische Galerie this year. Dahlem had just packed up his show ‘Mare Lunaris’ when we met, and many of his works were scattered around the studio. But the main focus for Dahlem and his assistants that day was a piece for abc – art berlin contemporary: an oblong, galaxy-like construction made of carefully connected wooden sticks.

The front wall inside Dahlem’s studio is lined with fish tanks. Most of his projects take on a clear dimension of outer-space exploration or astrophysics, but the artist seems equally fascinated by the deep sea. These worldly – yet somehow otherworldly – extremes are recurring themes and sometimes intertwine in his work. The galaxy piece Dahlem is creating for the Galerie Guido W. Baudach booth at abc took its inspiration from the polygonal geometry visible in a chunk of coral that he has on-hand in the studio. Dahlem became visibly animated when he spoke about the complex patterns occurring in the coral, and in nature more generally. As an artist, he strives to emulate these patterns – not with scientific or mathematical precision, but with the human element of error and contingency that gives his objects their aesthetic currency.
....
The top floor of Brandlhuber’s ‘Anti-Villa’ has, ironically, a very villa-like interior, which includes one of Dahlem’s tasteful sculptures, encased in a vitrine. The piece refers to the development of stars and their conversion from suns into red giants and ultimately into black holes, with each sun made of a different found object: a styrofoam globe, a browned and shriveled lemon, a shattered-glass decorative bulb, and a small velvet sphere the size of a ping pong ball. There’s a remarkable congruity between Dahlem’s works and Brandlhuber’s stark modernist buildings, perfect for exhibiting art.
....
In general, Dahlem’s working philosophy contradicts the push towards mass production characteristic of modernism and he playfully mocks the ‘Ornament-is-crime’ principles of Adolf Loos and his followers. Nevertheless, his works are perfect complements to those very spaces and ideas and despite being all-too-human they gesture towards the borderlands of our world that, even today, remain to be comprehended.

Dahlem moved, along with his studio, from Berlin to Potsdam, and the tranquility of his relatively new location seems ideal for concentration. The artist and his team are gearing up for a busy season of art fairs and exhibitions, notably in Tokyo at Hiromi Yoshii Gallery and at Heinrich Erhardt Gallery in Madrid. Dahlem has been to Japan around 15 times and, as we conclude the visit with a quick look at Brandlhuber’s specially designed backyard guesthouse, he remarks that the minimalist aesthetic resembles traditional Japanese interiors. Contrary to this, Dahlem’s studio is decidedly busy with activity and the clutter of a person in high gear, with models and sketches of upcoming projects waiting in the wings."

"....
There was a period when I was working exclusively with sound, and my main interest was the science of the acoustic, the behavior of sound in space. I was very interested, for example, in why a blind person can know how big the room is just by clapping or tapping a cane on the ground. […] I distinctly remember feeling that I wanted to see the emptiness of space, to become the space and be extended out into every part of it all at once.
...." (bron: hyperallergic, foto's: Kira Perov)